Help us to reach out to your local communities and forums. But most importantly don´t forget to join the movement – KING of the ICE 2018! #kingoftheice2018

Henrik Mård was crowned King of the Ice 2017

The King of the ICE 2017 was epic with leaders from three different countries. The guys from Poland came in strong mid-season with really nice sessions and as we suspected Jeff Brown and the Americans would come really strong at the end of the season. The second most represented country was the Netherlands with 10 riders, really impressive since the conditions down there has been far from optimal. King of the ICE 2017 was Henrik Mård from Sweden, with top results on both 5*10 sec and Alpha.

Team Sweden will continue the tradition for the second year in the row. Our aim for this year is to attract even more riders from all over the world.

Four disciplines will be included in the King of the Ice 2018 challenge:

SCORING:

FOUR discipline participation with ONE discipline THROWOUT allowed!
The BEST of 3 discipline scores will be calculated on a low point scoring system.
Winner of each discipline will get 0,7p second place 2p, third place 3p etc.

If you have no result in one discipline your points will be calculated as last place +1.
Obvious fault or incorrect figures will be changed, removed or not calculated.
Overall Ties shall be scored based on competitors NEXT BEST finishes within their 3 best disciplines.

The WINNER of King of the ICE 2018 will be the competitor with the LOWEST TOTAL POINTS.

REGISTRATION:

You do not need to register to join the challenge, your activity on GPS Icesailing will automatically be used.

You are required to specify your class of icesailing device in your GPS Icesailing profile for sessions to be identified through use of data filters on the website.

Select: “Ice-Snow Sleds-Windsurfer” for your equipment.
Help support GPS Ice sailing and become a GOLD MEMBER!
Help us to share the invitation on social media! #kingoftheice2018

To start with I would like to say that this is my side of a story, a story affected by ice, cold water and adrenaline.

The purpose of this story is to describe how coincidences can interact in a bad way and how you can go from super happy and stoked to be in a hardcore situation where your life is at stake.

GPS log – February 19th 2017

It was February 19th 2017

We had almost two months of great ice conditions behind us. This day we were planning to go to one of the local spots north of Stockholm. Two friends were ahead of us and after a few runs they called back telling us that the ice wasn’t safe enough. We rerouted to another spot more inland – a sweet water spot that was new to us.

My best friend Jonas and I arrived late to the new spot, our friends were already on the ice. After setting up my Alpha iceboard and my favorite sail, Maui Sails TR3 4.7, we went out to the gathering point.

The ice suddenly turned very transparent

We talked to our friends who arrived just before us and decided to slowly but surely go down the same line were we saw the other guys go. A few hundred meters down the line there was a boarder with bad ice, crossing the route. We turned north to slow down and check the boarder out. Half way through the maneuver I realized that something was wrong terebly wrong.

After just a few seconds the board went through the ice

The ice suddenly turned very transparent and made a beautiful but scary sound. Afterwards I realized that when I started the turn I had the thin ice area at my back. After just a few seconds the board went through the ice, I was catapulted and went through the ice a few meters from the board.

So the situation was this: I was in the water with unbroken ice between me and the board and another 6-7 meters of unbroken ice between the board and ice, thick enough to bear my body weight. When I realized that Jonas had followed my path and was in the water some 50 meter away I got really really scared.

I started to crush the ice with my hands and body towards the board and sail, high on adrenalin, feeling no pain and I didn’t feel the cold water at all. I was just determined to reach the board and sail as the first base on my way to safe ice. If you go through the ice when skating you know that you have safe ice behind your back, this is far from truth if you go through ice on an iceboard.

Iceboarding with Jonas on Vallentunasjön, Stockholm – Sweden

This video was shot at my home spot two weeks before the insident at Ekerö, south west of Stockholm. The sails and the boards on the video is the actual iceboards and sails that got lost at Ekerö.

Reaching the first base of rescue gave me a false sense of security

At this point I saw that there where people close to Jonas trying to help him. I also realized that Jonas didn’t manage to level his body with the water/ice surface. I felt the panic grow.
Reaching the first base of rescue, the sail and the board, gave me a false sense of security. As soon as I laid my hand on the sail the board sank, slowly slowly followed by my favorite sail. I remember thinking “is this for real” a very very surrealistic feeling. The guys had now reached Jonas with rescue lines.

I still I didn’t freeze nor felt tired at all

I started to work my way to safe ice, crushing the ice with my body weight and the seat harness hook. Closer to safe ice the harness hook was my Achilles heel, crushing the ice that normally would have been thick enough to bear my body weight. When I at last lay on the ice I still had a couple of meters to drag my body to a area with ice thick enough to stand on. Still I didn’t freeze nor felt tired at all.
Walking my way towards Jonas I saw that he was safe on the ice, I gave him a hug, glad that we were safe then starting our long way back to the cars. Reaching the cars the andrenaline started to leave my body and the chill entered.

An injury could easily be a game changer

I have gone through ice before but in planned situations, like the military service. This was something totally different (of course). To start with I hurt my hip when I was catapulted from the board. The hip was protected by my seat harness, still I got my first blue mark ever when crashing through the ICE. What I’m trying to say is that when you theorizes about going through ice you assume that you are physically fit for fight, this is not necessary truth. An injury could easily be a game changer when it comes to make your way back to safe ICE.

How your body reacts to a hard core situation

Even if I didn’t feel the cold water you never know how your body reacts to a hard core situation like this. I know that the chill factor shouldn’t be underestimated. A few years ago I helped an ice-skater that had went through the ice. He was well equipped with backpack, i.e. dry clothes in plastic bags. The problem was that the chill came over him immediately making him shiver uncontrollably and his hands/fingers were useless. To get wet clothes of your body summertime is a challenge, add ice-water, the chock and a few minus degrees and you are in big trouble.

Without our fellow iceboarders and ice-skaters the outcome would have been much more uncertain

With hundreds of hours on different ices and different ice conditions it’s easy to lower your guard. Since this was a new spot for us we should have checked a map over the area, the warning signs were there. We should have asked the locals about weak areas.We are tremendously grateful for the support we got from our fellow iceboarders and skaters. Without them the outcome of this story would have been much more uncertain.

Update regarding ice-prods:
Both Jonas and I used ice-prods. I dont know any Swedish rider not wearing them when on ice. Without the ice prods this would have been a whole different story, i.e. probably someone else writing it.

A brand new Sail brand has just entered the market. The US based designer Stanislav Mostoviy, with background in aerodynamics, has designed a full profile wing sail. The idea of a wingsail for windsurfing was born in 2012 and the agenda was to develop a full profile sail and make it crash resistant and floatable. After years of R&D and hard work the patented design is ready for the market.

MW SAILS STORM – Size 4.5 and 5.8

Stanislav about the wingsail concept

Now we are really happy with all aspects of its performance. We have spent over 5 years of really intense R&D, developing a much better and reliable sail machine in all aspects. It is crash resistant, easy to water-start, very forgiving and fast. A wing sail has much more stability in all directions and doesn’t really have an upper wind limit.The wing sail have minimum twist and it rotates much smoother compared to a traditional windsurfing sail. After rotation the wing sail powers up in a very soft and controled manner.

Wingsails are completely free from leading edge stall

A problem with curved plate profile of a traditional sail is that it develops leading edge stall. Wingsails are completely free from leading edge stall, which means that the wing sail will continuously deliver lift and remain stable with a locked in position and remain on that position in all wind speeds.
There is no back hand pressure or back foot pressure and there is no different adjustments for different wind speeds – just one setup does it all. Our wingsail is a wind hungry machine that never overpowers.

“I remember in my old days sailing with regular sail 28 knots it’s like holding for your life ,sailing with wing on the choppy water 28 knots it’s nothing. Actually faster is better because on the high-speed when all forces equalizes drag and lift, everything become really quiet.”

How about sail sizes and mast curves?

Wingsail – Inflatable camber inducer

Storm is not sensetive to mast curve. I rig different masts on my demo sails, result is the same. According sail size: The rule for wingsails is simple – bigger = faster. But to go fast requires sailor strength. The 5.8 generate an enormous amount of lift, you must have body strength or weight to balance and control the power. Can a 60 kg sailor use 5.8? Yes of course if you like super speed and hardcore sailing. The 4.5 rig will give the smaller sailor a more relaxed, stable and controled ride.

The name of the sail is Storm, is that indicating that there will be bigger sizes in the future? “Yes there will be bigger size possibly coming this spring”.

Is the wingsail concept a game changer?

With minimum twist and an exceptional stability the wing sail should be a perfect match for ice sailing and the ever growing market of windsurfing foils. Other sail brands have adjusted their sail lines with a sail designed for foil-sailing. First out was Loftsails that just recently has released their all new “Skyscape”, specially designed for foiling with less twist and with a lower cut than we are used to see on a modern windsurfing sail. If the wing sail concept is a game changer remains to be seen. Stanislav is convinced of the pro´s of the wing sail concept compared to a traditional windsurfing sail and the more we learn about the concept the more we are convinced that the wingsail concept also would be a perfect match for foiling and ice surfing.

We are really looking forward to the new GoPro Hero 6. Gopro Hero 4 was released in September 2015 and the Gopro Hero 5 was released in September 2016. Rumors say´s that the release date is planned to 28th of September, if that is the case remains to be seen. Rumors say´s that we could expect some welcome upgrades.

GoPro hero 6 vs GoPro Hero 5

New modes – The GoPro Hero 6 will now shoot 4K footage at 60 frames per second (GoPro Hero 5 – 4K footage at 30 frames per second) and 1080p footage at 240 frames per second. In other words the GoPro 6 will give you the opportunity to shoot awesome slow motion shots in 4K.

There will most probably be a Battery capacity upgrade on the Hero 6.

GoPro representatives says that the have boosted the color performance on the Hero 6 vs the Hero 5.

There will probably not be a upgraded GoPro Session.

In other words there will be small but welcome upgrades to the GoPro Hero action cam. The post will be updated, stay tuned!

Dean Withrow – team USA was crowned King of the Ice 2016

King of the ICE 2016, hosted by team USA, was a success. Dean Withrow – team USA was crowned ‘King of the Ice 2016’! There were 26 competitors from six countries represented, USA, Sweden, Lithuania, Estonia, Netherlands and Canada, making the King of the ICE competition truly international.

Team Sweden will continue the tradition and for this year we have replaced the dicipline “Distance” with the all new dicipline “Nautical mile”. Our aim for this year is to attract even more riders from all over the world.

Help us to reach out to your local communities and forums. But most importantly don´t forget to join the movement – KING of the ICE 2017! #kingoftheice2017

Four disciplines will be included in the King of the Ice 2017 challenge:

SCORING:

FOUR discipline participation with ONE discipline THROWOUT allowed!
The BEST of 3 discipline scores will be calculated on a low point scoring system.
Winner of each discipline will get 0,7p second place 2p, third place 3p etc.

If you have no result in one discipline your points will be calculated as last place +1.
Obvious fault or incorrect figures will be changed, removed or not calculated.
Overall Ties shall be scored based on competitors NEXT BEST finishes within their 3 best disciplines.

The WINNER of King of the ICE 2017 will be the competitor with the LOWEST TOTAL POINTS.

REGISTRATION:

You do not need to register to join the challenge, your activity on GPS Icesailing will automatically be used.

You are required to specify your class of icesailing device in your GPS Icesailing profile for sessions to be identified through use of data filters on the website.

Select: “Ice-Snow Sleds-Windsurfer” for your equipment.
Help support GPS Ice sailing and become a GOLD MEMBER!
Help us to share the invitation on social media! #kingoftheice2017

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